Group Growling Over Feline Puzzle

January 19, 1996|By CRAIG QUINTANA The Orlando Sentinel

The question isn't "Where is Waldo?" but "What is he?"

Waldo is a mystery cat that the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission removed from the wild last year after deciding he was not an endangered Florida panther. Waldo was subsequently sold to a Missouri animal dealer.

Commission officials, who got Waldo back from the dealer Tuesday evening, still maintain that the 3-year-old cat is not a protected panther. Genetic fingerprinting last year showed that he was a mountain lion from west of the Mississippi River, officials said.

"There are those who wanted it to be a Florida panther," said Tom Logan, the commission's panther recovery coordinator. "That just isn't possible."

But an environmental group, The Fund for Animals Inc., on Wednesday said it would sue the commission for violating the federal Endangered Species Act if Florida did not release Waldo back to the wild. The commission never proved conclusively that Waldo was not a panther, the group said.

"We're saying put the animal back in the wild and leave it there," said D.J. Schubert, a Fund for Animals spokesman. "The game commission broke the law by removing this animal."

The commission has not made a decision on Waldo's fate.

One theory is that he is the offspring of two Texas cougars released into North Florida as part of an experiment. Texas cats that were thought to be sterilized were set free to determine whether they could adapt to Florida. The hope was that if they could, other Texas cats would someday breed with the Florida animals. After the experiment, the Texas cats were removed from the state.

The dispute over Waldo dates back to March, when the commission received reports of a panther near the town of Waldo, north of Gainesville. The 118-pound young male, named for the town, was captured in April and examined.

A commission veterinarian noted the cat had many Florida panther-like characteristics, including a cowlick on its neck, white markings and a "Roman nose."

The discovery touched off optimism about the prospects of a Florida panther living well north of its South Florida range.

Waldo was released while genetic fingerprint tests were under way. When he tested as a Western cat, he was recaptured in June, and transferred to the Ashby Acres Wildlife Park in New Smyrna Beach. Waldo was then sold to the animal dealer.

The commission's actions angered many environmentalists. Waldo could have provided a much-needed new bloodline for the 30 to 50 remaining Florida panthers, which suffer defects caused by decades of inbreeding, Schubert said. Regardless of the outcry, if a second round of tests proves that Waldo is related to the Texans, that's still good news for Florida's panthers. That means that the captive-born Texas cats not only adapted well to Florida, but also that their offspring act like natives, Logan said.